
Class ___L_^1. 
.1 
Book 



. hi a o 7 



* 






E U L G Y 






UPON 



GENERAL THOMAS L. HAMER 



/ / *'^' 



PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF OHIO, 



AT COLUMBUS, JANUARY 18, 1847. 



BY RUFUS P. SPALDING. 



H. CANFIELD, PUINTER, 
w&HROZr, OHXO. 



1 8 ir , 



l^^Sn 



Bxcbange 
west. Bes. Hist. Soc. 

1015 



EULOGY 



Gentlemen of the Senate, 

And Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: 
It was the saying of one of the Latin Fathers, that « the care 
of funerals, the place of sepulture, and the pomp of obsequies, are 
rather consolations to the living than any benefit to the dead." 

This is doubtless very true, but the apothegm is susceptible of 
some amplification. There are benefits resulting from an offering 
modestly laid upon the tomb of departed worth, which far outweigh 
the consolatory infinences that flow in upon the hearts of surviving 
friends by reason of sympathy, 'though it 

" Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees 
Their medicinal gum." 

In the first place a suitable exhibition of funeral rites and 
ceremonies has a tendency to mortify the pride and chasten the affec- 
tions of the living— to call off the mind, for a season, from the 
vanities and uncertainties of life, and to fiiX the attention upon the 
solemnity and certainty of death. 

We read that the Egyptians, after their feasts, were wont to present 
the company with a great image of death by one that cried out to 
them, 

" Drink and be merry, for such shalt thou be when thou art dead." 

A still higher authority says to us — " it is better to go to the 

house of mournii:g than to go to the house of feasting: for that is 
the end of all men ; and the living will lay it to his heart." 

Again ; a decent manifestation of respect to the memory of the 
virtuous dead, is a powerful incentive to the living to emulate that 
course of conduct which strews with flowers, and fills with fragrance 
" the valley of the shadow of death." Impressed with the truth of 



4 

this sentiment, the great Roman Orator has said ; " the place of our 
sepulture is wholly to be contemned by us, but not to be neglected 
by our friends." 

There is then, a sort of classic as well as religious propriety, in 
the resolve of this General Assembly, which suspends, for a season, 
the business of legislation, that honor may be done to the memory of 
one, whose 



" •• name i? great 

In mouths of wisest censure." 

Fellow Citizens : 

The insatiate archer once more hath sped his shaft, and lo ! the 
pride of our state is fallen : Death has entered among us, and a 
fearful chasm is left in our ranks. He has torn his victim from 
the fond family circle ; from the forum; from the legislative hall; 
from the ramparts of his country's honor. 

He has triumphed over the affection of the husband and the father, 
the eloquence of the advocate, the wisdom of the statesman,^ the 
patriotism and valor of the soldier, and all, all is grief \ — 

Well may we apostrophize in the beautiful words of another : — 
" O thou destroyer of human hope and happiness! was there no 
head frosted by time, and bowed with cares, to which thy marble 
pillow could have yielded rest ? Was there no heart-broken sufferer 
to seek refuge from his woes in thy cheerless habitation ? Was there 
po insulated being whose crimes or miseries would have made thee 
welcome? Who had lived without a friend, and could die without 

a mourner? These, alas, could give no celebrity to thy conquests, 

for they fall, unheeded as the zephyr. Thy trophies are the gathered 
glories of learning, the withered hopes of usefulness, the tears of sor- 
•rowing innocence, the soul-appalhng cries of the widow and the 
•prphan. Thou delightest to break our happiness into fragments, and 
to tear our hearts asunder. We know that thou art dreadful, and 
unsparing, and relentless— else our departed friend liad continued 
with us. His tomb would have beeui where our hopes bad placed 
it, far distant in the vale of years. Still would his manly and 
generous affections warm and delight the social circle— still would 
his pure and spotless manners invite the praise and imitation of our 
youth— still would his impresssive eloquence lead captive courts 



and senates— the golden cord of connubial affection would gam 
strength and beauty from time— and still his children would call him 
father," 

Vain and deceitful illusion ! 

" For him no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
Nor tender consort watch wih anxious care ; 
Nor children run to lisp their sire's return, 
Nor climb his knee, the envied kiss to share." 

But why do we repine? It is appointed unto man once to die, 
and after that — — the Judgment aye, the Judgment. 

" With noiseless tread, death comes on man; 
No plea — no prayer delivers him — 
From midst of life':! unfinished plan. 
With sudden hand it severs lam, 
And ready, or not ready, no delay, 
Forth to his Judge's bar he must away." 

'Tis the dre^d of judgment that robes in terror the image of death. 
The virtuous and the good need not tremble at the dissolution of 
the body — much less should their surviving friends lament their 
fate as those who have "died without hope," 

" Why," says Seneca, " should this rather be always running in 
a man's head, that fortune can do all things for the living man, than 
this, tliat fortune has no power over him that knows how to die?" 
Our friend, d istinguished through life for promptness and 
punctuality, has, in his death, paid the debt of nature a little while 
before us, That is all, 

Thomas Lyon Hamer had his birth in the county of Northum- 
berland, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the month of 
JuIV: of the year one thousand and eight hundred. 

At the commencement of our second war with Ensfland, his 
father, who was a farmer of moderate means, removed to the state 
of New York, and resided for a time in the vicinity of Lake Cham- 
plain, While there, it fell to the lot of Thomas, then a youth of 
only about fourteen years, to be an eye witness of the naval action 
fought by the heroic JMcDonough : and that thrilling scene, with its 
triumphant result, gave to him, as he often declared, that penchant 
for warlike achievements which adhered to him through life. 

In the year eighteen hundred and seventeen, the elder Mr. Hamer 
migrated to Ohio, and purchased a small farm near Oxford, in th^: 



6 

county ot BiUler, where he resided until his death. His son 
Thomas accompanied the Ihmily on their journey until they reached 
the mouth of "INine Mile Creek," which puts into the Ohio River 
in the county of Clermont. At this point he bade them adieu, 
having already determined in his own mind, that he would no longer 
constitute a charge upon the slender resources of his father, to 
whose kindness he was indebted for a tolerable English education, 
which, he rightly conceived, would be fully adequate to the supply 
of his future wants. 

And here, amidst the rude and unlettered, though generous and 
warm-hearted pioneers of Clermont, the honored subject of our 
notice, then in his eighteenth year, an entire stranger in the land — 
without money, save only "one and sixpence" in his pocket, and 
without clothing, except the "home-spun" which he wore, began 
his brilliant career. 

Oh, what volumes of instruction does such an example furnish 
to the young men of this republic : So true is it, that — 

" Mores cuique sui fingunt fortuuam." 

Or, as the English bard has it, 

" Himself, not fortune, ev'ry one must blame, 
Since men's own manners do Ihtir fortune frame," 

in the immediate vicinity of the place where he first landed, Mr. 
Hamer taught a school for about four months, and in that time 
borrowed of one Stephen Lindsay, a noted magistrate in those parts, 
an old and worm eaten copy of Espinasse's Nisi Prius, which he 
read with intense interest, reciting his lessons to the learned justice, 
during his hours of relaxation from the duties of his calling. And 
thus he commenced the study of that arduous profession of which, 
at a subsequent period, he became the ornament and pride. 

At the close of this school, he was continued in the same emploj^- 
ment by the citizens of Withamsville, a village some five or six 
miles in the interior, where he had access to a small collection of 
books owned by Dr. William Porter, an amateur in professional sci- 
ence, who had alternately studied Law, Physic and Divinity, and 
whose library bespoke the variegated character of his scientific pur- 
suits. 

He subsequently took charge of a school in the village of Bethel, 
where he boarded in the family of the late Thomas Morris, then a 
practising attorney, under whose instruction he prosecuted the study 



of the law until his admission to the bar by the Supreme Court, sitting 
at WilUamsburg for the county of Clermont, in the spring of the year 
one thousand eight hundred and twenty one. It is somewhat re- 
markable that, up to this period, he had never, at any time, been 
within the walls of a Court-Housc. 

In the month of August (1821) Mr. Hamer repaired to Georgetown, 
the seat of Justice for the county of Brown, and entered upon the 
duties of his profession. Very soon therealler, he married Lydia 
Bolton Higgins, the amiable daughter of Gen'l. Robert Higgins ot 
Virginia, who was a soldier of the Revolution. This union was 
productive of great domestic happiness, which was only interrupted 
by the lamentable death of Mrs. Hamer in the month of January, 
1845. They had seven children, five ot whom (two sons and 
three daughters,) survive their beloved father. The second wife, 
and now disconsolate widow of Gen'l. Hamer, was Miss Catharine 
Johnston, daughter of Doctor Wm. B. Johnston of Minerva, Mason 
county, Kentucky. 

Upon opening an office at Georgetown, iVIr. Hamer speedily ac- 
quired a lucrative practice at the bar ; and such was the purity of 
his life and conduct, the gentleness of his deportment, the fascination 
of his artless and spirit-stirring eloquence, that he at once became a 
distinguished favorite in the community where he lived. 

In the fall of the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty 
five, he first entered upon public life as a Representative in the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Ohio from the county of Brown. He served in the 
same capacity duing the winter of 1828, and on the organization of 
the House in December, 1829, was elected Speaker ; this station he 
was admirably qualified to fill, as well by reason of his. courteous 
demeanor andsingular self-possession, as his intimate acquaintance 
with Parliamentary law. 

On the second of December, 1833, Mr. Hamer took his seat in the 
Congress of the United States as one of the Representatives from Ohio, 
and in a term of service of six years duration, acquired a celebrity 
which gave him rank amongst the most astute politicians of the 
day. In 1838 he declined a re-election to Congress, and for a series 
of years thereafter, devoted his undivided attention to professional 
pursuits. 



The emoluments of his practice as a lawyer, were a,Ttiat, but they 
arose rather from the multiplicity of his " retainers," than from any 
thing like exorbitant charges in single cases. 

His high and refined sense of honor was exhibited as strongly in 
his professional conduct, as in his social or political relations, and 
his kindness to junior members of the profession was proverbial. 
His p-reat excellence as a lawyer consisted in his profound knowledge 
of human nature, in the clear and discriminating power of his intel- 
lect, and in the fervent zaal with which he always maintained his 
client's cause. 

Early in the sumjner of 1846.he evinced a disposition to return to 
political life, and was accordingly placed in nomination as a repre- 
sentative to Congress from the district in which he lived. At this 
time he was at the zenith of professional, if not of political fame. 
He had formed a co-partnership in the practice of the law with 
Saunders W. Johnston, Esquire, who was married to his eldest 
daughter ; and the business of their firm is said to have yielded a 
revenue of more than six thousand dollars per annum. 

Then it was that his patriotism was put to the test : — when sur-. 
rounded by all the endearments of home ; a devoted wife, dutiful and 
affectionate children, constant friends, a competency of worldly 
wealth, high professional fame, political advancement near at hand, 
and untold civic preferment in the future ;^~ther\ it was that his 
country's call came upon his ear, and our gallant Hamer obeyed the 
behest. 

Fearing lest the requisition for volunteers in the Mexican war, might 
not be promptly met by Ohio, he rode around his district, called 
meetings, and, like 

"Henry, the forest-born Demosthenes 
Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas ," 

by his patriotic eloquence, aroused the sleeping energies of his coun- 
trymen, and excited them to deeds of noble daring. 

Twelve hundred of the hardy yeomanry of Brown, Highland and 
Clermont proffered their services in their country's cause. The 
eloquent Hamer consecrated himself to the same glorious service. 
The example became contagious. , 

His law-partner, the intrepid Johnston, volunteered : two of 
their law-students volunteered: a bound-boy of Mr. Hamer volun' 



tceied : and, finally, the young son of Hamer pressed forward to join 
the patriotic throng, but his father kindly staid his steps. 

It has occasioned no little surprise with that class ol community 
who were only acquainted with Mr. Hamer in his public and profes- 
sional character, that he could be induced to volunteer for the ser- 
vice in Mexico as a private soldier. The mystery is not inexplicable. 
Next to his love ot country, he was most ardently attached to his 
adopted state. He was jealous of her reputation almost to a fault — 
and when he enrolled his name with the " Brown County Boys," he 
avowed his object to be, to make himself useful in the service, in any 
post which he might be deemed competent to fill ; entertaining the 
hope that he could be instrumental, in some degree, in elevating the 
character of Ohio to that chivalrous standard already attained by 
some of her sister States. 

In the organization of the volunteers at Camp Washington, Mr. Ha- 
mer was elected Major of the 1st Regiment, and very soon thereafter 
proceeded with his compatriots in arras, to meet the enemies of his 
country. 

On his way to the seat of war, a commission reached him from 
the President of the United States constituting him a Brigadier 
General in the volunteer service — a high tribute to his talents and 
patriotism ! Especially so, as he was known to lack experience in 
military afiairs. 

In process of time we find him at Camargo at the head of the Ohio 
Brigade. Whilst here, the General in Chief resolved to proceed to 
the assault of Monterey with none but regular troops and southern 
volunteers. The course pursued by General Hamer, on this occa- 
sion, would in days of yore have secured to him a " hecatomb." 

He declared, in a council of war, that if a conquest of territory was 
to be made in the Mexican Empire, the citizen-soldiers from the free 
States, and especially those from the free states of the west, would 
claim the privilege not only of taking part in the contest of arms, but 
also in the civil contest that would ensue, as to the government and 
laws of the subjugated territory. 

His timely remonstrance produced the desired effect : the order ot 
march was changed, and General Hamer's Brigade, led on by their 
brave chieftain, performed prodigies of valor, and won immortal 
renown at the storming of Monterey, 
4 



10 

The coolnes-?, sl<ilt ond intrepiditv di^plnyed by Gen'l. Hamer in 
that stonily contested and hloody ti.iy, forms the crowiiingr act in his 
short, but siii<TiiUiily biilli.tnt and nvecttlnl c.ireer. 

And now nxirk fl)i' insiaiiility o! idmu'r ijre;it!iess, and the deceit- 
fulness of nl 1 h i > e<i r 1 1 1 1 y iz : I r , , 

On the second Tuesday ni (V-iobor A. D. 1816. Bii^odicr General 
Thomas L. Huuier \v;is without <>))posiiion. rkcicd to tlie Cono:ress 
of the United States, as a Hoprrscnt.iiive liom ihe 7ih District in Ohio, 
composed of the enuntios oC Hub aii.i. Bnnvii and Olennjnt. 

On the third day of DeccMuhcr A. D. 1846. Major General Taylor 
addressed the lollounijjf coininuiiicaiiou to ibe Adjutant General of 
the army from his Head Q.narters near Monn^ey : 

"It becomes my mehmcholy duly to report tlie death of Brioradicr 
General Hamer^ofthe volunteer service, who exj^ired last evening, 
after a short iUness. 

" The order to the army annonncinir this sudden dispensation, 
expresses but fieebly the high estimation in which the deceased was 
held by all who knew him. In counril, I found biin clear and 
judicious: and in the administration of his command, though (und, 
yet always impartial and just. He was im active participant in the 
operations betore Monterey; and since, had commanded ihe volvnteer 
division. 

" His loss lo the army, at this time, cannot be supplied ; and the 
experience which he daily acquired in a new profession, rendered 
his services continually more valuable. I had looked forward, 
with confidence, to the benefit of his abilities and judgment in the 
service which yet lies before us, and feel most sensibly the privation 
of them." 

And so it is— cm down in the midst of his days, from the object oi 
univ ersal love, our friend has become the object of universal lamen- 
tation ! ! ! 

On a similar occasion, one of -the most highly gifted amongst the 
many intellectual and accomplished sons of Harvard hath said, 
" Oh ! how dangerous it is to be eminent. The oak whose roots 
descend to the world below, while its summit towers to the world 
above, falls with its giant branches, the victim of the storm. 

"The osi3r shakes— and bends— and totters— and rises, and 
triumphs in obscurity. 



11 

•' And yet who of you would owe his safety to hisinsis^nificance? 

Be neath that living osier, not an insect can escape the snn_ 

Beneath that fallen oak the veo^etabie world was wont to flourish. 

. _-the ivy clung around its trunk the birds built tlieir nests 

among its branches, and from its summit saw and welcomed the 

mornino- sun the beasts fled to it for refuge from the tempest 

and man himself was retj'eshed in its shade, and learned from its 
fruit the laws of nature. 

" Oh ! how delightlul it is to be eminent ! To win the race of 
usefulness — to live in the beams of well earned praise — and walk in 
the zodiack among the stars. 

" Fame, with its perils and delights, my friends, must be ours. 
Welcome its rocky precipice ! Welcome its amaranthine garlands ! 
We must wear them on our brow — We must leave them on our 
grave. 

" Vv'"e must, we will fill cur lives with acts of usefulness, and crown 
them with deeds of honor : and when we die, there will be tears on 
the cheek of innocence, and sighs from the bosom of virtue, and the 
young will wish to resemble, and the aged will lament to lose us." 



»FXNIS.< 



i> 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




01 1 899 340 8 # 



